Worcester Business Journal

6 Worcester Business Journal | October 29, 2018 | wbjournal.com Worcester offer of $101M to move the PawSox might have seemed steep, but Weymouth was poised to offer the team an even better deal BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor The proposed ballpark site in Worcester's Canal District (top), alongside a rendering of Union Park (middle) a potential stadium site in Weymouth. (Bottom) McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket. W orcester wasn't the only Massachusetts community consider- ing ponying up major money to attract the Pawtucket Red Sox. As Worcester officials were negoti- ating with PawSox officials earlier this year, Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund was pitching the team with a deal very similar to what Worcester would end up offering, according to documents ob- tained by the Worcester Business Journal not previously reported publicly. Hedlund suggested an $85-million stadium, paid entirely and owned by the town, as the anchor of a large mixed-use development. At first, when the PawSox and the city of Worcester announced their deal to move the team to the Canal District in 2021, it appeared Worcester may have overpaid by offering $101 million in public financing versus the $38 million offered in Rhode Island. However, docu- ments from Weymouth show at least one city was engaged in negotiations with the team and potentially willing to offer an even sweeter deal than Worcester. The Weymouth Red Sox Unlike Worcester's proposed $240-million development with the stadium as an anchor, the proposed Weymouth development, Union Point, is already partly built out. It is also just 18 miles from downtown Boston, and is envisioned as a community with more than 4,000 housing units and 8 million square feet of commercial space. e Weymouth stadium site was proposed to be joined by a 6,000-seat performance venue and a second smaller entertainment facility. A dra memorandum of understand- ing for the team to sign with Weymouth was dated July 26, only three weeks before Worcester and the PawSox signed their own contract at a packed ceremony in City Hall attended by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. Worcester City Hall said throuh a spokesman that city officials were focused on its own dealings with the team and though it knew of Weymouth's involvement, no other city's offer played a role in its own agreement. It's not clear if the Boston Red Sox, who would have to ultimately sign off on a move from Pawtucket, would have approved a deal to bring its top farm team so close to Fenway Park. e PawSox didn't comment specif- ically on the Weymouth proposal but said the team heard from more than 20 communities around New England when looking for a potential new ballpark. "For many reasons Worcester emerged as the best situation for us aer extensive consideration of the different options on the table," said Dan Rea, the team's executive vice president and general manager. Charles Steinberg, the PawSox pres- ident, said at a Worcester event Oct. 19 the team didn't expect it would leave its longtime home city, comparing it to the decision of baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers to leave for Los Angeles in the 1950s. But the PawSox were attracted to Worcester by the idea of being part of a renaissance, as Steinberg put it, instead of being the catalyst to start one. "We could simply be part of it, and it's a lot easier," he said. A more generous offer Weymouth's proposal, unlike Worces- ter's, was never finalized. e Worcester Business Journal obtained dra doc- uments and correspondence from the town to the team. "During our last meeting," Hedlund WooSox WeySox vs.

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